Shas MK to Bayit Yehudi: You Hate Chareidim

Deputy Knesset Speaker MK Yitzchak Vaknin of Shas launched a scathing attack on the religious Zionist Jewish Home party on Tuesday, accusing its members of hatred towards chareidim.

After the next elections, warned Vaknin, Shas will not hesitate to join a coalition headed by the Labor party.

“In politics everything’s possible. I remind everyone that the National Religious Party itself sat in a coalition with Yitzchak Rabin and the Arabs,” he said, adding that Shas views Labor leader MK Yitzchak Herzog as better than Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu.

“It is the right that has always conceded land, both Bibi and Sharon. Labor never conceded land, it built but did not destroy,” charged Vaknin.

The Jewish Home should not preach to Shas, he continued, since it chose to boycott the chareidim and join a coalition with Yesh Atid.

“Since you disqualified me in order to enter a government with Yair Lapid, do not preach to me today. And I tell you the truth: if possible, we will sit in a government with Herzog and without Bennett,” said Vaknin.

He continued by promising that Shas will safeguard the Jewish communities in Judea and Samaria, as well as the Hesder yeshivas.

“We have never frozen settlements. You have a hatred for the chareidi public,” charged Vaknin, addressing the Jewish Home. “You are sitting now in a government that is negotiating with the Palestinian Authority and may concede territory. Labor never promoted criminal sanctions against yeshiva students, but you sold us out in favor of a shorter service period for hesder students.” Read more at Arutz Sheva.

Chareidim will never accept the forcible uprooting of their society by the government even if the government thinks it is for their own good. Their lifestyle is full-time Torah learning regardless of the financial hardships they encounter. Full-time Torah learning in poverty is clearly their choice over an alternative that compromises their Torah learning even though it might bring them financial benefit.

Their life, poverty notwithstanding, is one dedicated 100% to full time Torah learning. Any forcible efforts by the Israeli Government to uproot them from 100% full time Torah learning by forcing them do military time, forcing them to work, or by throwing them in jail, will never be accepted.

And the craziest part is that the Government is saying that this legislation is best for the Chareidim to provide them employment and financial stability.

Really now? Government knows what’s best for the Chareidem better than the Chareidim themselves?